PA insists Teterboro cannot
handle bigger jets

By DANIEL SFORZAStaff Writer

Can it or can't it handle a
private jet in a commercial airliner body?

That's the central question
surrounding the main Teterboro Airport runway and a brewing controversy about whether the
Boeing Business Jet -- a 171,000 pound behemoth by corporate jet standards -- should be
given access.

In the end, the answer will come
from stress and engineering tests evaluated by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The agency's Eastern Region staff
is conducting an informal review of the runway before deciding whether to allow the
Business Jet, a converted 737, at Teterboro.

"Our customers have asked us
not to give up on this," said Steve Barlage, regional sales director for Boeing
Business Jets. "Our studies have found, along with several others, that the airport
itself can handle it."

Officials from the Port Authority
of New York and New Jersey say it can't, and plan to contest any decision that allows the
Business Jet to use Teterboro.

"We are going to work as
diligently as possible to not only protect the airport's weight limit, but to keep the
airport non-commercial," said Port Authority Aviation Director Bill DeCota. "Our
position is that the airport cannot sustain this use. This is how we built the
airport."

Teterboro, a public airport, has
had a 100,000-pound weight restriction since 1967 that officials have defended as the
limit the runways and taxiways can handle. Since Teterboro uses public money to operate,
it must accept any aircraft it can physically handle, according to FAA officials.

"This current mediation is
also informal," Port Authority spokesman Greg Trevor said. "Even if the FAA
makes a determination at this level, we don't have to comply immediately. That process
will still go on."

Authority officials said if the
Boeing jet is approved by the FAA Eastern Region, the agency will appeal it at the federal
level, and then in court, if necessary.

"This can go to Washington
to decide, after that the courts," DeCota said. "From everything we have done,
all of our engineering analysis . . . the airport was not built with physical facilities
to accommodate the types of planes we are talking about."